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As pro-Beijing protesters demonstrated outside amid a heavy police presence, Hong Kong National Party leader Andy Chan today delivered a controversial speech advocating the city’s independence at the Foreign Correspondent Club, an event that has drawn rebukes from Hong Kong and Beijing officials.

Anyone hoping for language the mainland government would find inflammatory didn’t have to wait very long.

Calling China an “empire” that was a “threat to all free peoples of the world,” the 27-year-old said his party was necessary because of what he called Beijing’s “cleansing” of the city’s freedoms, language and culture.

“The situation is so dire… Hong Kong has never experienced such horrible colonialism until 1997. Peking is now our colonial master and the Hong Kong National Party has a real reason to exist,” he said.

“Hong Kong is truly a separate entity from the so-called Chinese nation. We Hongkongers are our own, a nation that is quickly being annexed and destroyed by China. The cry for Hong Kong independence is therefore a cry against colonial invasion.”

Speaking for about 20 minutes before answering questions from the audience, he said the party wanted “democracy for Hong Kong” but said that, for that to happen, the city’s sovereignty “must rest with the people of Hong Kong.”

“There is only one way to achieve this: independence.”

He criticized immigration from the mainland, saying China was sending its “loyal subjects” to “destroy all that we hold dear.”

He also called on Britain and the United States to intervene, suggesting the latter should review the agreement that sees the city treated as a separate economic entity.

That agreement, of course, was famously dismissed just last year when then-Chinese Foreign Minister Lu Kang told reporters the 20-year-old deal with Britain was “not at all binding for the central government’s management over Hong Kong.”

Chan’s Hong Kong National Party, formed in 2016, faces an unprecedented ban by Hong Kong authorities, which claim it is a “threat to national security,” despite its membership being previously estimated at fewer than 50 people.

Chan said he “wasn’t surprised” by the move to outlaw his group and fully expected it would be carried out. He said he expected the wider movement to “thrive” if his party is disbanded, though independence supporters are widely seen as a fringe group with diminishing momentum, amid a crackdown by officials.

Chan told the assembled at the FCC that he had been subject to surveillance, saying that members of the pro-Beijing media had been regularly knocking on his door and following him with video cameras in the past weeks leading up to his speech. 

His planned appearance at the FCC stirred controversy from the second it was announced, with Beijing’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in Hong Kong asking that the event be cancelled, while the city’s leader, Carrie Lam, calling the talk “inappropriate” and “regrettable.”

Hong Kong’s former chief executive, CY Leung, repeatedly attacked the FCC on social media and called into question their lease of their government-owned headquarters in Central.

Outside, as Chan delivered his speech this afternoon, a few dozen pro-Beijing protesters gathered, chanting “Zero tolerance for Hong Kong independence.” Nearby, a handful of counter protesters waved signs advocating for free speech.

Dozens of police kept watch over the small demonstrations and kept the protesters separate.

Among the pro-Beijing crowd, retiree Eric Tai criticized the FCC for holding the lunchtime speech and suggested the government should terminate their lease of the building.

“It’s a Hong Kong government building and they hold a talk that is opposite to the Hong Kong government,” he said.

“The silent majority of people do not support Hong Kong independence.”

Nearby, Patrick Ko, the chairman of Voice of Loving Hong Kong, said the speech should be considered “illegal.”

“This is not allowed, Hong Kong is a part of China,” he said.

Following the talk, the government issued a fresh statement criticizing the FCC, saying it was “unacceptable” for any person to openly advocate the independence of Hong Kong.

The spokesman said that while freedom of speech and freedom of the press were supported and protected by the government, they were “not absolute” and “have to be exercised in accordance with the law.”

“We have continuously supported the FCC’s work over the decades. However, providing a public platform for a speaker to openly advocate independence completely disregards Hong Kong’s constitutional duty to uphold national sovereignty. It is totally unacceptable and deeply regrettable.”

In introducing Chan, FCC vice president Victor Mallet reiterated the club’s position that hosting speakers did not mean the club endorsed or opposed their views. Closing the talk, he said the fact that it went ahead was worth noting.

“All of this actually shows that Hong Kong is still a place, at the moment, where free speech applies, freedom of association applies.”